Yikes – my third book is now officially published titled” The Definitive Guide to Social CRM!

While I have been very pleased with initial praise for the book (http://ismguide.com/social-crm-book-endorsements/), I did get a good chuckle when I one of my good customers sent me the following email thread reminding me of where “social” may be heading:

Daughter to Dad TEXTING and Communicating in Today’s Generation

Daddy, I am coming home to get married, soon. Get out your check book. LOL
I’m in love with a boy who is far away from me. I am in Australia, and he lives in Scotland. We met on a dating website, became friends on Facebook, had long chats on Whatsapp, he proposed to me on Skype, and now we’ve had two months of relationship through Viber. My beloved and favorite Dad, I need your blessing, good wishes, and a really big wedding.”

Lots of love and thanks,
Your favorite daughter,
Lilly

Dads reply ….also by texting

My Dear Lilly:

Like Wow! Really? Cool!

Whatever….., I suggest you two get married on Twitter, have fun on Tango, buy your kids on Amazon, and pay for it all through PayPal.

And when you get fed up with this new husband, sell him on EBay.

L.O.L. (lots of love),
Daddy

You got to love these new Dads! But in all seriousness, one at least has to ask oneself whether these new ‘social’ tools, including texting as well as Social CRM, have the ability to go too far?

I do not fear the future but rather welcome it. I think there is and will continue to be a self-regulating ‘social tools’ environment whereby if one tool gets out of whack, users will flock elsewhere. Remember what happened to MySpace at its peak?

If we turn to the business world, the bigger concern for me is the ongoing fear of ‘social tools’ by too many corporate executive. Why mess with ‘social’, they ask, when business is doing fine without it? But the best-in-class companies – many of whom are my customers – are embracing ‘social’ as here today and for ever more. They are creating digital strategies that will thrive in an increasingly ‘social’ world. They are implementing some of all of the four steps noted in my 4-step Social CRM framework that I describe in great detail in the new book. This includes carefully listening to what customers/prospects are saying about your company in both public and private Social Media communities, monitoring and filtering this ‘social insight’ information for relevance, integrating relevant social insight into your customer profiles that are housed in your CRM system, and finally leveraging your CRM system to engage the customer/prospect via the channel of their choice. Properly done, the company is in a strong position to enhance engagement, ensure satisfaction and drive advocacy all of which have a meaningful impact on sales.

Where do you stand on whether ‘social’ has gone too far? Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me – let’s get this important dialog going just in case your “Lilly” sends you a new text!

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Barton Goldenberg, is the founder and president of ISM Inc., customer-centric strategists/implementers serving best-in-class organizations globally. As a CRM leader for 30 years, he was among the first three inductees in the CRM Hall of Fame. Recognized as a leading “customer-focused” author, his latest book, The Definitive Guide to Social CRM, is hailed as the roadmap for Social CRM success. Barton is a popular speaker on “maximizing customer relationships to gain market insights, customers and profits”. He is a long-term columnist for CRM Magazine and speaker for CRMevolution and frequently quoted in the media.